Magnus Carlsen was defeated by Praggnanandhaa: The 18-year-old Indian 64-squares phenom Praggnanandhaa defeated World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen in a classical game for the first time late on Wednesday in a round 3 match at the Norway Chess tournament, which is being held in Carlsen’s home nation.
The fact that Praggnanandhaa’s sister Vaishali finished the third round at the top of the women’s standings after narrowly defeating Anna Muzychuk in the Armageddon added to the sweetness of the day.
Carlsen chose not to castle at all, throwing what he himself called a “risky” opening at Praggnanandhaa. Rather, he attempted to catch the Chennai-based adolescent off guard. However, the ruse failed. Though Praggnanadhaa was taken aback at first, he quickly put more pressure on the five-time world champion.
His introduction provoked thought. I mentioned that if he didn’t want to fight, he could play something decent. At all, I didn’t mind. After winning, Praggnanandhaa told The Indian Express, “We’ll fight and see how it goes.”
Hikaru Nakamura stated in the confessional booth (a first introduced to Norway Chess in 2015) regarding the Praggnanandhaa vs. Carlsen match: “Magnus has decided to play something very double-edged.” You could say that he’s giving it his all today. Today, he will either win or lose. Unlikely that this will result in a draw.
After his own match was over, Nakamura told Norway’s TV 2 Sport that Carlsen would only take such a chance on an initial move against a novice, not against seasoned players like him.
“I hope Carlsen uses these opportunities to go up against Fabi or me. My hypothesis is that Magnus intentionally takes more chances when he plays the younger children than when he plays us older people because he wants to sort of prove a point, chase after them, and try to beat them.
The 18-year-old was behind Carlsen for the majority of the match, which made Praggnanandhaa’s victory all the more impressive.
When asked if this was one of his greatest victories, Praggnanandhaa replied, “I’ll have to check. I’m not sure.” I felt that my performance was lacking. I did discover some brilliant moves. Definitely not my greatest game.
How Carlsen was defeated by Praggnanandhaa
In the actual game, Pragg took thirty-one seconds to move 1.e4, pushing his king’s pawn forward—possibly the most well-liked opening move for white. In response, Carlsen casually pushed his pawn to c5. And then there was an Open Sicilian.
Subsequently, Pragg stated: “My preparation ended at bishop d3 (his fifth move).” It was unexpected to see Carlsen play queen c7 (with the fifth move). I was unable to recall anything further after that.
Throughout the game, Carlsen himself appeared in the confessional booth a few times. He once referred to Praggnanandhaa’s tenth move, which involved moving the pawn to h3, as a “waste of a move.”
Undoubtedly, this was a dangerous starting decision. However, I believe that move 10.h3 was a touch too mild. There, he considered it for a long while. He was probably figuring out f4 and queen c5. Not that that’s worse for Black people, in my opinion. That was a bit of a wasted move, then. Aside from that, h3 can occasionally be utilized to assault with rooks and queens. In the middle of the game, in the confessional booth, Carlsen commented, “I wasn’t too impressed with that one.”
Pragg was behind the timestamp from the beginning. Carlsen had a twenty-minute lead on the clock by move 10. The Indian teenager needed to beat the initial time control with 26 more moves in just one hour over the next four moves.
However, the eval leaped to suggest that Pragg was ahead on move 13, when Carlsen slipped his queen to d7 in response to the Indian placing his pawn to f5. (Pragg acknowledged that he thought Carlsen was growing more difficult at this point).
Carlsen took another brief stop in the confessional booth on move 15.
I’m a little afraid that he will now play knight d5 and go fe6. Maybe I’ll castle queenside, but I’ll take the knight. However, it appears very frightening. Though I’m not entirely sure, I doubt that it’s beneficial for White people objectively. I think I’ll be fine in other lines. However, knight d5 terrifies me a little,” Carlsen grinned and left the confessional.
Pragg pointed out that, in his opinion, he made a mistake by allowing his knight to be taken on the twentieth move.
“I feel fantastic. The game had a lot of fascinating elements. From the outset, I was given a pretty good position. I played it a little too badly at one point. Bishop e3 (20.Bxe3) and f6 (21.f6) were approved by me. Later on, I was informed that I was still playing that position appropriately. After the victory, Pragg told reporters in Stavanger, “Maybe I was better the entire game.”
